Jane the Virgin spin-off Jane the Novela not moving forward
Today, the network officially confirmed that they are not going to be moving forward with the planned anthology continuation of the franchise, which revolved around each season being a different “book” written by Jane. Gina Rodriguez was set to be the narrator for the new series, and the first season was set to take place around a Napa vineyard. It had a promising cast, one that included Desperate Housewives alum Marcia Cross alongside former Weeds actor Hunter Parrish.
So why didn’t this work? A part of it may have just been complications with the premise itself. It’s weird in a way — we’re willing to pretend that a show like Jane the Virgin is real, but somehow, the challenge becomes so much more difficult when you are pretending that a fictional world within that fictional world was real. Because you knew, more or less, that the entire story was a product of Jane’s mind, maybe that limited the gaze of the spin-off series. Maybe it was also that the ratings for Jane the Virgin itself have never been spectacular and if this failed to get any new viewers and only a fraction of the original show’s, it wasn’t going to be all that much of a success in the first place.
The CW also hasn’t been super-willing to just order spin-offs for the sake of doing so. Even if they did greenlight Batwoman earlier today alongside the Riverdale spin-off show Katy Keene, they have previous passed on multiple Supernatural spin-off series and they allowed Chilling Adventures of Sabrina to head over to Netflix rather than bagging it outright. They’re somewhat diplomatic about the spin-off concepts and they’re not just going to bring them on board simply for the sake of doing so.
We’re disappointed, in the end, that we’re not going to have a show firmly in the vein of Jane the Virgin moving forward; yet, at the same time we’re still hoping and crossing our fingers that there could be some other shows coming up that establish a similar tone and can find success beyond just the network’s core audience. One of the things that we don’t want to forget here is that Jane the Virgin brought in a new demographic and, beyond just that, also led to Gina Rodriguez getting some legitimate awards-show recognition. That’s not something that The CW has been really known for.
For some more news when it comes to Jane the Virgin…
Be sure to visit the link here right now! After all, that’s where you can get a little bit of further news when it comes to the series that is currently on the air.
What do you think about Jane the Novela not moving forward to series, and how much of you are surprised by it? Be sure to share right now in the comments, and check back soon for some other insight. (Photo: The CW.)